In summer, when the temperatures in Delhi scrape the high 40s, the chief horticulturalist to the President of India has to make sure that the lawns of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence, stay green.

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In winter, Mr. Prakash must protect delicate plants in the President’s Mughal garden from frost damage.

His biggest test in this volatile gardening environment is to ensure that over the next month, when the garden opens to the public, around half a million flowers bloom in unison.

Joanna Sugden for The Wall Street Journal

Nigam Prakash, chief horticulturalist to the President of India.

“It’s a challenge,” Mr. Prakash told India Real Time. “We have to adhere to the garden calendar so that things come up more or less at the same time as we open.”

A few days before the opening, all is not rosy. The flowers are not at the stage he would like them to be because of unusually wet and cold weather in January and early February.

“The marigolds around the pond in the circular garden were waterlogged so we had to take some of them out and plant new ones,” he said, pointing to a row of flowerless plants.

Beds of “Christian Dior” lilies remain in tight bud. “We were very much despondent,” Mr. Prakash said. “But we hope if there is no change in weather in 15 days the garden will come in full bloom.”

That’s about 10 days later than he was hoping for and it’s not his only set back.

This year, there are just two small beds of tulips instead of around 4,000 blooms normally.

“We decided in December that we couldn’t get the quality of tulips that we wanted so we had to change to hyacinths and African lilies,” said Mr. Prakash who began planning the planting in June.

He didn’t think the tulip bulbs on offer were properly rested and so doubted whether they would flower for long enough: “It’s a Plan B so it doesn’t quite click, but it’s my duty to see why something’s wrong and then to replace it.”

The private gardens of Rashtrapati Bhawan, the home of Pranab Mukherjee, India’s President, will be open to the public from Friday Feb. 15 until Sunday March 17.

Allowing the public into the 340-acre site for free once a year has become a tradition since India’s independence and spectacular displays of horticulture have come to be expected, said Mr. Prakash.

“If all around there are flowers then the visitors are happy, if some places are barren, then they start complaining,” he said.

Joanna Sugden for The Wall Street Journal

A water fountain at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Planting began in September but heavy rains and hail storms in January and early February have made this year particularly tough in terms of getting the garden ready on time.

“Because of all the rain the flowers were deformed and there were no roses in the rose garden,” said Mr. Prakash, who has been in charge of the 35 permanent gardeners at the President’s residence for five years.

In total, around 154 full-time and contracted staff tend the garden ahead of its formal opening by the President each year.

The 15-acre Mughal garden with its symmetrical planting, terraces and water features is the centerpiece.

The lawn, which is over 60 years old and was brought to Delhi from Kolkata, is watered with aerated water to prevent it smelling stagnant.

It requires around 800 gallons of water per acre every three days in the summer months in order to maintain its verdure — a price that Mr. Prakash says is worth paying:

“It’s mandatory that the grass stays green in the President’s garden at any cost.”

Rashtrapati Bhawan gardens open on Feb. 15 from 12.30 p.m. to 4 p.m. and then from Feb. 16 to March 17 from 10 a.m. to 4pm.

Joanna Sugden is freelance journalist living in Delhi. Before coming to India in 2011 she spent four-and-a-half years as a reporter at The Times of London, covering religion and education. You can follow her on Twitter @jhsugden.

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India Real Time offers analysis and insights into the broad range of developments in business, markets, the economy, politics, culture, sports, and entertainment that take place every single day in the world’s largest democracy. Regular posts from Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires reporters around the country provide a unique take on the main stories in the news, shed light on what else mattered and why, and give global readers a snapshot of what Indians have been talking about all week. You can contact the editors at indiarealtime(at)wsj(dot)com.